


Before

by Impsc



Series: Lost Sides in Neverland [on hiatus] [7]
Category: Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie, Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Burns, Fire, Fluff, Gen, Injury, Kid Sides (Sanders Sides), Manipulation, Unsympathetic Morality | Patton Sanders, a super lowkey way, but not as much as usual, look he's a child he's not ready to be a father, nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28473729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impsc/pseuds/Impsc
Summary: These take place before the Main Adventure storyline
Series: Lost Sides in Neverland [on hiatus] [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997491
Kudos: 4





	1. Split

**Author's Note:**

> Roman and Remus weren't always themselves

Roman was strange, Patton thought. He was so loud, and he always seemed to be in trouble. At least more than himself and Logan. He was also usually a bit of a mess. His hair was always a rat’s nest, and his clothes were usually covered in mud, not to mention torn in several places. He also always seemed to have lost one of his shoes, but that was okay, Patton had gotten pretty good at making sandals.

“Come on, Patton, you can do it!” But sometimes Patton wondered if he had his head on straight. “It’s only the river!”

Patton had his eyes closed, and was clutching the vine as tightly as he could. “Okay, but, Roman, the thing about the river is, is that it’s kind of big, and loud, and scary!” So loud and wide they were having to shout to even hear each other!

“Also there are rocks at the bottom!”

“Yes, thank you for the reminder, Logan!”

“Just jump, Patton, I did it!”

“Yes, you did!” Patton took a deep breath and steadied himself for maybe the fifteenth time. “You’re very brave!”

“And so are you Patton, just go for it!”

Okay. Okay. I’m brave, thought Patton. I can do this. I can- “WHOAAA!”

Patton shrieked as he was shoved off the rock and swung screaming to the other side of the river, where he knocked right into Logan trying to catch him.

“See, I told you you could do it!” shouted Roman from the top of the rock.

Patton gave a weak thumbs up from the ground, and Logan asked, “Roman, how did you get up there so fast?”

“Watch out!” Patton and Logan rolled out of the way as Roman came swinging down on another vine, rolling into a landing. “I climbed the rocks!” He shook himself like a dog, showering Logan and Patton in river water.

“Roman!” said Logan. “I just got dry!” Logan had swum across with another vine for assistance rather than swing down on the rope, despite Roman’s insistence. “Also, climbing the rocks isn’t safe!”

“Yeah, probably not,” Roman shrugged and grinned.

“You pushed me,” said Patton, sitting up.

“Yeah, and then you swung all the way down, wasn’t it great?” Roman responded.

“I guess.” Once Patton had gotten to the bottom he’d felt alright. And he was proud of himself that he’d done it. He was just being silly. Patton got up and brushed the dirt off himself. “Um, okay! Lunchtime, you two, let’s go home.”

“Yes, time for lunch!” Roman jumped up and down, creating a bit of a muddy spot where he was standing. “Come on, let’s go!” He grabbed Patton and Logan by the hand and dragged them off into the trees.

* * *

“I don’t really understand why we can’t just catch a bird or something,” said Roman.

“Roman!” Patton coughed a little on his mango. “We can’t-“ he lowered his voice to a whisper, “ _kill_ , an animal!”

“Why not?” Roman tilted his head curiously. “Other animals kill each other all the time.”

“He is right about that,” said Logan. “On the other hand, I don’t think _I_ could kill an animal.”

“Well it’s a good thing we don’t need to, then!” said Patton, eating the rest of his mango rather quickly.

* * *

“Hey Patton.” Patton was attempting to wash some of their clothes in a different river when he heard Roman’s voice right by his ear. He sighed.

“Yes, Roman?” He turned slightly and shrieked. “Roman!” Patton scrambled backward and fell into the water while Roman laughed, moving the spider he’d been holding right up to Patton’s face from hand to hand. This was getting to be too much, thought Patton, breathing hard and holding his hand to his chest.

* * *

“Logan?”

“Yes, Patton?” It was nearing dusk, and Roman had gone out on some kind of solo adventure, so it was just Patton and Logan in the treehouse.

“Do you-“ Patton bit his lip and tried again. “Have you noticed, um-“ He looked down. “It’s just that Roman-“

“Roman what?”

“Oh, it’s probably nothing, I’m just being silly.”

Logan looked up from his book and saw Patton fiddling with his shirt sleeves and looking at his lap. “What’s wrong, Patton?”

Patton dropped his hands to his lap and looked up. “Well, um, it’s- Roman is- he’s not, very _nice_ , sometimes.”

Logan pushed up his glasses. “He is a little annoying, sometimes, yes.”

“It’s not just that, though!” Patton’s whole face was scrunched up with concern. “He’s always dirty and he eats bugs and puts them in my face and he pushes both of us around and I don’t- I don’t _like_ it!” Patton sniffled a little. “It’s like it hurts, but I’m not hurt anywhere so-

“Patton,” Logan closed his book. “Why don’t you just talk to Roman about this?”

“Yeah, why don’t you?” Patton whipped around to see Roman, just out of the trapdoor, eyes filled with tears.

“No, Roman, wait!” Patton cried, but Roman was already gone.

* * *

Roman ran through the trees, not really caring where he was going. He knew he could be… annoying sometimes, but he didn’t want to _hurt_ anyone! How can you hurt someone without hurting them? He was just having fun! Wasn’t that allowed?

After a while of running, Roman got too tired to keep going. He fell back against a tree and slid to the ground, tears still falling down his face. He pulled up his knees to his chest and covered his face with his arms and cried.

After a minute or two, he heard the sound of bells.

He peeked out between his arms to see a tiny, glowing face staring back at him.

He lowered his arms in surprise, to reveal several more fairies, some floating around his face and some next to him on the ground. He sniffed and back up against the tree. They poked at his clothes and hair, and one wiped a tear off his cheek.

* * *

Now, you must understand about fairies. They don’t understand emotion very well. You see, their bodies are so tiny they can only ever feel one at a time.

They also have a propensity for mischief.

So when they felt Roman feeling so much at once, they didn’t understand. And they thought perhaps to fix it, not considering any possible consequences. And they took hold of the two strongest emotions, and pulled.

* * *

Patton tried to run after Roman, he ran as fast as he could, and Logan did too, but Patton couldn’t run nearly as fast as Roman could and Logan was even slower. So Patton reached the place where Roman had ended up just as the fairies converged on slightly panicking Roman and a bright light filled the clearing.

Patton blinked to clear his eyes of the spots. “Roman?” Many of the fairies had flown away, now, but a few were still floating around, lighting the clearing. They were also making quite a lot of noise. Patton thought maybe they were laughing.

“Roman?!” When he’d entered the clearing, there had only been Roman, Patton was sure, but now…

Neither bodies on the ground were moving, even as fairies grabbed at their clothes and hair. “Roman?” Patton looked back and forth between them. They both _looked_ like Roman, sort of. One of them was much messier, his hair more spiky, with a grey streak in it, and slightly paler, and the other looked calmer, even sleeping, and less dirty, with curlier hair. As Patton approached cautiously, glancing nervously at the fairies, he noticed that both now had slightly pointed ears.

“I-“ There couldn’t be two Romans. “I-“ What did the fairies _do_? Patton hesitated, then went to the not gray haired one, the one who looked most like his friend.

Whatever had happened, it was _his_ fault. _He_ made Roman run away. With what he said. And Patton was becoming more concerned with every second Roman was not waking up. This one had to be Roman, right? The other one was a copy, a- a bad, fairy copy, it must be. Fairies did that sometimes, right? Patton put his hand on what he was pretty sure must be Roman’s back just as he started to stir.

“Patton? Is that you?” Roman mumbled. “Patton what’s happening?”

“Roman!” Tears of relief filled Patton’s eyes, but just then the not-Roman began to stir as well. “Roman, we have to go!” The not-Roman began to giggle, still facedown in the dirt, which turned into a cackle, which all but confirmed what Patton had been worrying about. “Come on!” Patton pulled Roman’s arm over his shoulder while he steadied himself, and half dragged, half carried him out of the clearing, away from the not-Roman and the still laughing fairies.

Just inside the tree line, he nearly ran straight into Logan, who had finally caught up. “Patton, what’s going on?” Logan noted the pointed ears and curlier hair. “What happened to Roman?”

“The fairies did something, we have to go, now!” said Patton frantically. Logan took Roman’s other arm and they both carried him away as the cackling grew louder behind them.

* * *

Patton laid Roman gently on the ground at the base of the treehouse. “Patton? Logan? What’s going on? What happened?” Roman had slowly woken up on the way back, but he still felt strange inside his head. They kept calling him Roman, so that must be his name, right? And he recognized the others, but… something was missing.

“Roman!” Patton threw his arms around Roman and crushed him in a hug. “Roman I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean what I said, you didn’t do anything, please don’t run away again, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Patton dissolved into mumbling and sobbing into Roman’s shoulder, and Roman patted his back awkwardly.

“How do you feel, Roman?” Logan was peering at him over his glasses and Roman shifted uncomfortably.

“It’s okay, Patton… I think I’m fine?” Roman blinked a few times. “I’m not sure what you’re apologizing for, though. I think I just got back?” He shook his head and smiled. “Must have been a good adventure, huh?”

Logan tilted his head in confusion and Patton drew back, tears on his face, and asked, “You- all you remember is coming back here?”

“But that’s not what happened-“ Logan started but Patton whipped around and shook his head frantically.

“No, no, you’re okay!” Patton hugged Roman again so Roman couldn’t see his face. “You just passed out when you got back and we were worried but you’re fine now, right?”

Roman sat up a little more. “Yeah, I think so, yeah.” He was feeling better. He still sort of felt like something was missing, but that feeling was fading. “I think I might be ready for bed though.”

“Okay,” Patton started, but Logan interrupted.

“Alright, Roman, you get ready for bed, I have to ask Patton something, we’ll be up in a moment.”

Patton let go, wiping his face. Roman stood up, a bit unsteadily, smiled faintly at Patton and Logan, and turned and went up the ladder.

“What is it, Logan?”

“Patton, you lied to him.” Patton winced. “That’s not what happened and you know it.” Patton rubbed his arms. “And speaking of what happened, I believe I missed something as well. What happened before I arrived, Patton?”

“I- I don’t know, Logan.” Logan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t!” Patton messed with the bottom of his shirt. “I just, found him, and he wasn’t moving, and there were fairies, and I don’t know what happened.”

It wasn’t really a lie, Patton thought, everything he said was true. He looked at Logan, who still looked a little suspicious. “Alright, Patton.” He headed for the ladder. “Let’s just go to bed. We can talk about it later.”

“Okay. Later.”

* * *

Janus had been walking home from a particularly long food run, it was getting dark. That was when a bright light suddenly shone through the trees, followed by loud jingling bells. He stopped. He should probably ignore it. It would just be trouble.

He snuck through the trees toward the source of the noise. He was shocked to see two people lying face down in the dirt, surrounded by a few fairies, who were circling them, making many mocking, bell-like sounds and pulling at their hair and clothes.

Janus watched as yet another person ran in and appeared to panic, hesitating before running over to one of the unconscious people, shouting “Roman”, which appeared to be their name. Then they both began to stir, and the one the new person was kneeling next to said something too quietly for Janus to hear. Then the other one started cackling, which frightened the new person. They picked up ‘Roman’ and quickly dragged them away.

The cackling continued, but it was quickly fading into what sounded like sobbing, and their entire form was trembling.

Janus grabbed a stick and ran in to help. “Get away! Leave them alone!” He swung the stick back and forth, missing the fairies entirely, but evidently annoying them enough that they didn’t think it was worth it to stick around.

“Him.”

“What?”

The person on the ground rolled over so he was face up, and Janus could see that it was covered in dirt and mud. He also noticed the other boys slightly pointed ears. “I’m pretty sure I’m a boy.” Janus knelt down next to him. “I’m also pretty sure,” he laughed again, in a slightly off sort of way, “that I’m about to pass out again.” He giggled and went limp, eyes rather creepily still half open, even though he was now unconscious.

“Uh oh.” Janus shook him gently. “Hello?” No response. “Are you alright?” Nothing. Janus waved his hands for a moment, unsure what to do. Eventually he settled on attempting to lift the other boy off the ground as much as he could and dragged him out of the clearing. This was going to be a tiring walk back.

* * *

“Virgil!”

“Hmmm?” Virgil rolled out of bed, rubbing his eyes. He blinked them open to see Janus dragging someone down the entryway. “Janus! What happened? Who’s that?”

“I found him in the woods by the fairies, I think they did something to him,” Janus slid down the last bit and almost fell over. “I could use some help.”

Virgil rushed over and they both set him on the bed. He began to stir slightly, mumbling something. Virgil though he caught the words “ripped” and “hurts”. Then the boy’s eyes flew open and he woke up with a gasp.

“What’s going on? Who are you people? Did you kidnap me? Are you going to eat me? I bet I’d taste-“

“Hang on hang on hang on!” Virgil interrupted. “Okay first of all, we’re not going to eat you, that makes no sense.” He brushed his hair out of his eyes. “ _We_ don’t know who _you_ are. Janus found you alone in the woods!” Janus waved slightly.

“You know, I’m not really sure.” The boy jumped up on the bed, bouncing a little. “I used to, but I think I’ve changed since this morning.” He tilted his head sharply to the side. “I’m not myself, you see.”

“I hope you know that that makes absolutely no sense,” said Janus.

“No sense. Nonsense. Yes, that sounds like me.”

“Okay, well, do you have a name, nonsense kid?” said Virgil. “I’m Virgil and this is Janus, by the way.”

“I-,” he looked confused for a moment. “I used to.” He plopped cross legged on the bed. “I think,” he paused, then smiled in a way that looked more like baring his teeth, “my name is Remus.”

* * *

After that, Patton noticed that Roman became a lot nicer. He liked flowers more, and he ran from bugs and dirt, and he said sorry much more often. Patton sometimes wonders just what the fairies had done. And what had happened to the other Roman. He thinks that maybe they had just sort of, removed the bad parts, maybe. This thought is comforting whenever Patton begins to feel guilty for leaving the not-Roman behind.

Roman sometimes worries about the feeling of something missing, but he is happy that his friends seem to like him more now. Eventually that missing feeling fades into the background, and he hardly ever feels it anymore.

* * *

Remus thinks about his old friends sometimes. He doesn’t really remember their names anymore. Or much about them at all, except that they never looked for him. He feels wilder than he used to, and more free. And sometimes, a little broken, but it fades quickly. He has new friends, now, a new family, and that’s enough, right?

Janus often wonders what happened to the other boys he saw. They had each other, he supposed, but why did they leave Remus behind? Are they still out there, somewhere? He tries not to worry about it too much, and he never mentions them to the others.

* * *

And it stayed like that, for a long while, and other things happened, other adventures, and the boys mostly forgot what had happened that day, until one day one of them fell asleep by the lagoon and they ran into each other again.


	2. Serious Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is a rough one, sorry. It's how Janus got his burn

It was such a lovely day outside. “Let’s go for a walk,” said Janus, heading back down the entryway.

“Sounds fun!” said Remus. “Walk where? Fairies, mermaids, pirates-“

“No, no,” Janus interrupted before Remus could get too off topic.

Remus looked confused. “Uh… animals, then?”

“No, just a walk,” said Janus. “Just… walking.”

“Okay, but what are we doing on the walk?” asked Virgil.

“Can’t we just walk? You know, for fun?” said Janus.

“I mean, I _guess_ ,” said Remus, rolling his eyes. “Can I bring my whacking stick anyway?”

Janus rolled his eyes right back. “I _guess_.”

* * *

It really was a nice day. Remus had caught a grasshopper and tried to eat it but Virgil had snatched and tossed it back into the trees before he could. Now they were bickering lightly, a ways ahead of Janus, when they passed a strange section of trees.

No, wait, those weren’t trees, were they?

“Oh, Remus, Virgil, wait a moment, I just want to look at this flower.” Janus paused. It really was beautiful. Not to mention the tallest flower he had ever seen, taller than him. But it was undoubtedly a flower, it had bright yellow petals all around the brown center.

Janus watched in amazement as a fairy landed right in the middle. He waved at it shyly. It looked at him blankly for a moment, then smiled widely and began to make a jingling sound. Janus thought it was laughing. Was it laughing at him? He wasn’t being funny. What- Oh!

A rough hand came over Janus’s mouth. Janus made a muffled cry, but he couldn’t even see Virgil or Remus anymore, they must not have heard when he told them to stop! He kicked and thrashed, and got a solid hit on the knee of whoever was holding him, before they wrapped a strong arm around his middle, lifting him off the ground and pinning his arms to his sides.

“Captain, captain!”

Still Janus struggled, trying to worm his way free, or at least get the hand off his mouth, until he saw who he was being brought in front of.

They’d never dared to get near enough to see the pirate captain up close before.

They’d all heard the other pirates call her ‘dragon’ and sometimes ‘witch’ and lots of other, worse words, so Remus, Janus, and Virgil had compromised and called her the Dragon Witch, mostly Remus’s idea. And now, not a foot away from her with her eyes directly on him, Janus could see the reason for all the names.

Her features were sharp, and her ears where slightly pointed, and so were her teeth as she grinned. But the worst was her eyes. They were bright, bright blue, and her stare was as sharp as the rest of her. But there was something strange about her pupils that made Janus freeze. It was almost like they were sharp, too, but that was impossible.

She turned away, and Janus let out his breath.

Right into the hand of the pirate, which was still over his mouth.

“It’s one of those boys, Captain!”

“I am _aware_ , you dolt,” she snapped.

Janus kicked again, and the Captain turned to face him once again, so he screwed his eyes shut.

Then he heard her say, “You know, why don’t we let him speak his mind?” and he felt the hand move away.

“VIRGIL! RE-“ the hand was slapped over his mouth again immediately. His face was starting to hurt.

“So there are _more_ of you nearby, hmm?” Janus’s eyes flew open to the Dragon Witch looking around the nearby forest with interest and he shook his head as hard as he could, making muffled noises of dissent. She turned back to him and his eyes widened as she gently placed the sharp tip of her sword under his chin. “Let him speak again, but if you yell, I will slit your throat without hesitation.” Janus nodded as little as he could. The hand was removed again.

“They- they’re not- not here anymore.” She raised her eyebrows. “They’re not! I wanted to look at the flowers and I told them to stop but they didn’t! I don’t know where they are now!” Which _was_ all technically true, thought Janus.

After a pause, she lowered her sword, and Janus could breathe again. “Put him down.”

“But Captain-“

“I _said_. Put him down.” She looked down at him. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you? You won’t run.” Janus looked properly around himself for the first time and saw just how many pirates there were. He nodded nervously. “Good.” The pirate holding him set him on the ground rather roughly, and he was collecting himself as the Captain said, “We are going back to the ship. When we arrive, there will be a meal prepared for me and this young man here. Off with you!” There was a chorus of “Yes, ma’am”’s and the group of them moved out, Janus in the middle, trying to keep as much distance from all of them as much as he could. He tried to relax. Remus and Virgil had heard him, they must have. And they would notice he was gone. He hoped they would find him soon.

* * *

“I’m not touching you.”

“Remus, I swear-“

“I’m not touching you!”

“ _Remus!_ ”

“I’m not touching-“

“ _Janus_! Remus won’t stop it!”

“What!? I said I’m not-“

“Wait, wait, wait. Janus?” Virgil waved his arms at Remus to make him shut up. “Remus, did you see where Janus went?”

Remus opened his mouth to answer when- “VIRGIL! RE-“

The yelling was cut off abruptly and Remus and Virgil stared at each other. Virgil started, “That sounded like-“

“-Janus,” Remus finished, and they both headed as quickly and quietly as they could in the direction of the yelling.

They arrived just in time to see the pirates moving away. “There he is!” hissed Virgil. “He’s just walking away with them, why would he do that?”

“They probably threatened him with something, that’s what I would do,” Remus whispered back. “Besides, what’s he going to do, just run for it with all those pirates around?”

“What are _we_ going to do?!” said Virgil, biting his thumbnail. “We have to get him out of there somehow!”

“Give me a minute, I’ll come up with a plan,” said Remus, picking up his stick and bouncing it in his hand, grinning darkly after the pirates.

You see, none of them are seriously worried yet. It’s all just a game, right?

* * *

Janus was confused. He was captured by pirates. That was supposed to be bad. But so far all that had happened was he’d been sat in a room and told not to eat any of the food they brought in until the Captain arrived. He wasn’t even tied up or anything. And it wasn’t hard to not eat the food, the fish still had its eye in it.

“Good evening, young man.” Janus stiffened in his seat. He’d been so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t noticed the door open. The Dragon Witch closed it behind her as she entered. He watched her as she took her coat and hat off and set them on a hook by the door. She trailed her hand along the table to sit in another (much fancier, and much too close to him) chair. She took the cloth napkin next to her plate and set it on her lap, and gestured for Janus to do the same with the one by his. He dragged it off the table slowly, torn between avoiding eye contact and not taking his eyes off her. “So quiet. I was under the impression that boys were talkative.” He didn’t say anything, and her tone became sharper. “Where are your manners, young man, introduce yourself.”

Janus suddenly felt as though he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t think why. She looked into his eyes and he looked away. “Mm Janus.”

“What was that? Speak up!”

“Janus! I’m Janus.” He twisted the napkin in his lap.

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” She picked up her silverware and began to cut into her fish. “Janus, hmm? And Virgil and Remus. Strange names for children.” Janus said nothing again. “Oh, must I order you to do everything. Go on, eat!” She gestured to Janus’s food with her knife. Janus hesitated. “What is it _now_ , boy, I’m losing my patience.”

“It’s, um,” Janus swallowed and tried to pull himself together. She was just being nice, that shouldn’t be scary. “This fish still has an eye in it.”

“Yes, and?”

“It’s, um, gross?”

“And here I thought boys like disgusting things.”

“Well that’s twice you’ve been wrong in two minutes so maybe you should rethink your assumptions,” Janus said before he could stop himself.

“Oh, so he does have some wits about him!” She laughed and gave a little applause on the heel of her hand.

Janus stiffened again. That was a nice thing, right? So why did it make him feel so uneasy?

She must have noticed something, because she then said, “Good. Show no fear. Keeping things close to the chest means you have all the cards. Makes you strong.”

“What do you want?” Janus said suddenly. “You’re a pirate and you’re scary and you kidnapped me and I’m stuck here, but all you’ve done is talk and give me dinner and I don’t understand.”

She gave him a pitying look. “Of course you don’t. You’re just a child.” She ate a bit more of her fish. “All I want is to meet your friends. We can all have such fun together! Wouldn’t you like that?”

Janus narrowed his eyes. “Well, they ought to be here soon. To rescue me.” She slammed her silverware on the table and Janus jumped.

“I’ll be keeping a sharp eye out for your friends, then.” She stood. “There’s only so many ways onto this ship and they will not get past me.” She pushed in her chair, scraping it across the wood. “And since you are so insistent on acting like a kidnap victim, you may as well be treated like one.” She walked to the door and knocked on it, and two large pirates barged in. The Dragon Witch watched calmly as Janus knocked his chair over in his haste to get away, but there was nowhere he could go. “Put him in the brig,” she ordered, stepping carefully out of the way as the pirates dragged Janus out the door.

Janus shrieked and kicked, but eventually settled for yelling behind him, “they’ll rescue me, they will! And probably destroy your whole ship in the process!”

“Whatever you say, darling.” And she closed the door behind him.

* * *

They could see the shadow of the ship across the water, despite the fact that it was a moonless night and there was no light coming from the ship.

“Maybe they’re all asleep,” whispered Virgil.

“No, they aren’t, someone’s smoking in the crow’s nest, I can see the smoke,” Remus whispered back.

“Did you think of a plan yet?”

“No.”

“Well, now’s the best time, right? They’re all probably sleeping except that guy.” Virgil’s breathing started to speed up. “Unless they’re all just hiding and waiting for us. They’re probably after us too, what if they’re hiding out _here, what if they’re right behind us Remus we have to run-_ “

“Virgil!” Remus wrapped Virgil in an almost too tight hug as he hyperventilated. Virgil could feel that Remus’s heartbeat was only slightly slower than his. “Virgil, I’m scared too.” Virgil tried to control his breathing and weakly hugged Remus back.

“But think about how scared Janus must feel.” For a few moments there was only the sound of their breaths. “We have to hold it together, for him, just until he’s rescued.” Remus let go so he could see Virgil’s still panicked face. “If we get caught, we’ll just escape together! And won’t it be a great story to tell once we’ve rescued him?” Remus grinned, and Virgil laughed weakly.

“You’re right.” Virgil turned back to the ship. “You’re right.” He took a deep breath. “But we need a plan. We can’t just charge a ship full of pirates.”

Remus turned back to the ship and furrowed his brow, thinking. “Don’t they have explody stuff for those cannons?”

* * *

It was cold in the ‘brig’, which turned out to be just a cell in the bottom of the ship. Janus tried to find a way out, but the only porthole was across the way and sealed, and the pirate who had locked him in here was currently snoring loudly on a stool near it, the key to the door hanging from his belt. Now he was thinking about Virgil and Remus, and how Remus was never very sneaky and Virgil could panic at the best of times. He needed to just, do this on his own. Quickly, before they put themselves in danger. But there was nothing he could _do_! He almost slammed his hand into the bars, but pulled back at the last second. He couldn’t wake the pirate. He settled for clenching his fists hard enough to hurt. He searched the floor of the cell. If there was a loose board or a stick, maybe he could try to reach the key with it.

Just then, there was a low boom, and the entire ship rocked, and Janus fell back against the wood. Then there was several more in quick succession, just as loud and shaking the ship even more. This time the pirate fell off their stool with a grunt. “What’s happening?” They turned to Janus. “Did you do this?” Janus shook his head. They looked like they were about to say something else with a bright orange glow flickered through the wall across from the door to the deck.

Fire.

The pirate stumbled back. “Ship’s on fire.” They pulled themselves to their feet. “ _Captain! Ship’s on fire_!” They ran for the exit, and Janus tried to snatch the keys from their belt as they went past, slamming into the bars and missing by a hair.

“Hey!” Janus shouted. “ _Hey_!” He shook the bars as hard as he could, eyes on the flames that were quickly filling the other end of the room. “You can’t leave me here!” The wall cracked and part of it fell in, catching the floor as well. “HELP!”

Janus backed away from the cell door, hands clutching his hair in a panic. He looked from wall to wall, but he didn’t see anything he hadn’t already seen. There was no way out. _There was no way out_.

* * *

Things on the Neverland are often chaotic, and many things are always happening. But things as they are don’t tend to _change_ much. Another day, another story. But every once in a while, things do change. And some stories have serious consequences.

* * *

The door to the deck slammed open. There was yelling and screaming and even more flames on the deck, but that wasn’t what Janus was focused on. All he could see was the silhouette of the Dragon Witch, highlighted by flames.

She was snarling, and maybe it was an illusion, but Janus though he could see smoke coming out of her mouth and nose.

Somehow still he could see her eyes, her glowing red glare drilling into him, freezing him in place.

“ _You_.” She growled, and advanced toward the cell. “This is _your_ fault. You and your little _friends_ ,” she spat. Janus felt a flicker of pride amidst his panic. They’d really done all this? She shoved the key into the lock and ripped the door open. Janus tried to run, but his legs didn’t seem to work. “But I still have _you_.” She grinned down at him, and Janus tried not to tremble. “And if I have _you_ , then I have them too.”

Janus didn’t have time to react before her hand shot out and grabbed him by the hair, her long nails digging into his skin. She dragged him out of the cell, and turned to head back onto the deck before hesitating. She looked down at Janus, who was struggling to stand while attempting to claw her fingers off with no success. “You know what?” She pulled him closer, ignoring Janus’s attempts to twist out of her grip. “Let’s give them something to see.” She turned and began dragging him toward the flames that were still spreading on the other side of the room. “See what happens when you cross _me_.” She stopped, just where the flames were almost too hot for Janus to stand. She pulled him up to her face, so they were nearly nose to nose, and Janus was sure, her eyes were red, her pupils tiny slits. “Unfortunately for you,” she leaned back, “fire is my specialty.”

And she shoved his face into the flames.

* * *

Virgil and Remus could both hold their breath for a long time, on account of challenging the mermaids to breath holding contests. They couldn’t make it all the way to the ship in one go, but they could get close enough to not be seen from the crow’s nest. After that they had swum around until they found a weak spot in the hull, which turned out to be a porthole with a crack in it. Virgil helped Remus hold on to the edge of the ship as he raised his whacking stick to smash it. Before he did, he turned to Virgil and whispered, “Okay, when I smash this, we’ll have to hide fast, okay? Once we find the exploding room, I’ll set everything on fire, and you go find Janus since you’re quieter than me. I’ll spread the fire as much as I can, then I’ll wait for you in the water. It’ll be okay, okay?”

“Okay, Remus. Hurry up though, my arms are getting tired.”

“Just making sure you knew the plan.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

_SMASH!_

Remus knocked the last bits of broken glass out of the frame and he and Virgil scrambled inside and immediately made for the nearest dark corner, which happened to be behind several barrels.

“Oh, Virgil!” whispered Remus.

“What?” Virgil hissed, on high alert for any pirates.

“We got lucky.” Remus pointed, and Virgil looked down to see a bit of black powder leaking out of the bottom of the barrel. Remus grinned in his wild way. “Time to start a fire.”

* * *

Virgil ran, quick and quiet. He passed a few pirates who were running toward the explosion sounds and smiled. Remus was probably having the time of his life. He passed through several different rooms, none of them containing Janus. Eventually he came around to the rapidly spreading fire. This section had several walls burnt down and Virgil thought he could see two figures through the flame and smoke, a taller one and a shorter one.

Then the taller one shoved the shorter one into the flames and the screaming started.

Virgil’s heart nearly stopped. _Janus_?

No, no, no, no, no. Virgil ran as fast as he could through the flames. Janus…

Then he saw them, clearly.

Janus was screaming, turning to coughing as he inhaled more smoke, half his face in the fire. Virgil’s gaze followed the hand that was holding him there, to the face of the Dragon Witch.

Remus had some wild expressions, but even he had nothing on her. Her face was twisted into a grinning snarl, and her eyes…

Virgil became aware of a horrible, terrifying shrieking. Who was that, Janus was only crying now, trying with all his strength to push himself back, but only sliding on the wood, and the Witch wasn’t shrieking, and she was looking up toward him now-

The shrieking grew louder as he made eye contact with her, and he realized that the sound was coming from him.

She threw Janus on the still burning floor as he whimpered and cried, and Virgil tried to stop himself screaming and _do something_ -

She took one step toward him before being sent crashing to the floor and whatever spell Virgil had been under was broken. It was Remus. He’d barreled into her from behind and was now screaming and hitting her in the back with his stick as she twisted and shrieked on the wood. Virgil ran over to Janus, who was laying burn side down on the ground, shuddering and crying, and didn’t seem to realize Virgil was even there. Virgil grabbed Remus’s arm mid-strike.

Remus turned, still furious, but stopped when he saw the expression on Virgil’s face, and Janus on the ground. “We have to go, now,” Virgil said, picking up Janus as much as he could. Remus smacked the Dragon Witch one more time for good measure and they both took Janus and ran.

There were a few pirates on deck, but they ignored them, they were all fighting the fire that was spreading to the deck too, the wood catching under their feet and heading for the sails as they dove off the edge of the ship and into the water. They supported Janus in the water, and Virgil hoped he had just passed out from the temperature change, because he was no longer moving at all.

They could hear the pirates yelling about demon screeching and the Witch shrieking at them, asking where the boys had gone and ordering them to put the fire out.

Virgil looked back just in time to see the main sail catch fire, and they both heard as they swam away the Dragon Witch screaming, “I’ll get you for this, you wicked children! If it’s the last thing I do!”

* * *

Janus hurt. Everywhere. Too much. _Too much_ …

* * *

It was darker, now. Still hurt. There was a hand on his. He tried to grab it, but he couldn’t seem to move his fingers.

“ _Janus_?”

Remus? The hand squeezed his. Ow, ow, ow…

* * *

Janus gasped. His head hurt. His hands hurt. He blinked and rubbed his eyes… eye? There seemed to be something covering the other one. A bandage? “Ouch.”

“Janus?”

“ _Janus_!”

Janus protested slightly as two people knocked him back into the bed. “What… happened?” Remus buried his face in Janus’s chest, and Virgil looked up at him with watery eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a while.

“What do you remember?” Virgil said.

Janus tried. He tensed up, and Remus and Virgil held him tighter. He remembered… being caught. Being afraid. Talking with… her. And then-

Too much.

“Janus?” Virgil asked hesitantly. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

“I’m-“ He couldn’t worry them. They had already worried so much. “I’m fine. How long was I asleep?”

“A couple of days,” said Remus.

“You should probably eat something,” said Virgil. “Um, we’ll have to go get some food, though. We ran out yesterday.”

“You ran out?” Janus tried to get up, but Virgil and Remus pushed him back down. Janus noticed that Remus also had a bandage around his forehead. “Have you two slept? Remus, what happened to you?”

“Oh, he’s fine,” said Virgil, “He just wanted a bandage because you had one.” Remus nodded into Janus’s shoulder. Virgil avoided Janus’s eyes. “We’ve been sleeping in shifts, though. We didn’t want you to wake up alone.”

Janus tried not to cry.

This shouldn’t have ever happened. This couldn’t happen again. Not to him, or- he couldn’t even think about that. He hugged Virgil and Remus as tightly as he could, which wasn’t very tight, he was still weak. He would protect them, and keep them safe, and hidden. And this would never, _ever_ happen again.

**Author's Note:**

> and then they never talked about it later


End file.
